Purify the air you breathe for a better life.

Living Air Purifier Consumer’s Guide

Last edited on March 27, 2009

Having recently purchased a new living air purifierand having owned several of these in the past, I feel motivated to write a review of my experiences with it and let others know what to expect. I’m not sure if you own a purifier at the moment, but if you haven’t I’d suggest finding a good, quality brand air purifier like Alpine (my preferred choice, now sold by EcoQuest) and plugging it in. I’ll explain why.

I read an interesting statistic a couple years ago that suggested the air we breathe inside our home is up to 10 times dirtier than the open air outside. It’s not surprising; with dogs, cats, dust, smokers (eek) and other contaminates trapped inside. If you purchase a good filter for your heating or air conditioning unit, that will help, but it’s simply not designed to really neutralize and remove harmful particles from the air. This is especially important if you have sensitive allergies or asthma, believe me when I say that my Living Air Classic air purifier makes a noticeable difference in how my family breathes in our home, and now we’ve upgraded to their new line of Living Lightning purifiers.

At any rate, so where does the “living” part come from? I’m not sure really, maybe the Ozone cleaning it apparently relies on. Well, I’m an all “natural” kind of guy, and all the buzz about ozone purifiers, HEPA filters and ionic devices are great but I’d rather go green. Did you know that plants are some of the best filters in the world, sucking up carbon dioxide and exhaling precious oxygen – and houseplants are no exception. The process of photosynthesis also removes other harmful impurities from the air. So a few house plants could really do a good job in the living air cleaning department, and I like to use the Alpine unit with a pretty natural looking live-plant setup.

At any rate, the Alpine Fresh Air, Classic or RainFresh Breezeare all quite pricey at around $600 most places - but it’s well worth it in my opinion, especially since they’re filter-less so that saves money in the long run. You can scour the Internet for great deals, I’m sure you’ll find specials and price drops on them or folks selling 10 year old units on eBay (they seem to last a long time). I’ve heard some folks say they couldn’t tell a difference, but my family and I do and I wouldn’t use any other brand.